


Leaving the Shire

by ElderberryWine



Series: Grey Hills and Green [7]
Category: Lord of the Rings - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Part of the Grey Hills and Green series.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-30
Updated: 2010-01-30
Packaged: 2017-10-06 20:49:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElderberryWine/pseuds/ElderberryWine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Danachan for Merry/Pippin Day, but the degree of M/P-ness is entirely up to the reader.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leaving the Shire

Pippin turned in the saddle, watching Merry's pony catch up with his. "Come along, Merry," he chided him impatiently. "One would almost think that you were some old gaffer, wishing he could roast his toes by a snug fireside."

"So kind of you to add the 'almost'," Merry grumbled, but he gave a quick dig of his heel into the plump pony's side. The pony twitched an ear at this indignity, but otherwise continued on, placid and absolutely undisturbed. "But you might want to consider that we actually are old gaffers, as you so eloquently put it, and this jolting of the spine can really get rather tiresome."

"I suppose you are, then," Pippin grinned impudently, as he halted his pony to let his companion catch up. "But I refuse to be included. How long has it been since you've gone riding, anyway?"

"Walking makes more sense for a hobbit, rather than sitting on some beast with a mind of its own," Merry responded somewhat testily, prudently avoiding answering Pippin's question.

"Your bad knee," was the merciless reply. "You're just lucky that was all that troll left you with."

Merry grunted in defeat, and soon had his pony drawn up along side of Pippin's. They rode for awhile in comfortable silence until Pippin murmured, "Odd, isn't it? That of the four of us who saved the Shire, not a one of us is likely to end his days there?"

"Oho, saved the Shire, did we?" Merry cocked an eyebrow with amusement. "I rather always thought that was Frodo and Sam. Anyway, Sam is still back in the Shire."

"Don't be modest, Merry," Pippin gave a snort. "You took down the Witch King himself, I know you remember that. And I did something equally as heroic, I'm sure. Anyhow, you know Sam won't be around the Shire that much longer, he's getting more and more fidgety every year. Waiting for some sort of sign, I think, and one of these days he's going to see it, whether it's really there or not."

"Do you suppose that he really will see Frodo again, some day?" Merry asked, a little hesitantly. "It seems so impossible, but Sam really appears to believe that he will."

Pippin sighed, and fell silent, staring sightlessly into the peaceful forest that lay beyond the dusty road. "We've seen so many things that are impossible, haven't we, my dear?" he replied at last. "It's hard not to believe in one more impossible thing. Sam truly trusts that it will happen, and it's out of the question imagining that Frodo would ever have given him false hopes. Perhaps what we need, to get us through sometimes, is that one impossible hope."

"And what has your impossible hope been, Pip?" Merry could not help but ask, fascinated as always by the play of thought across those mobile features.

"For this," Pippin's face lit up as he glanced fondly back at Merry. "To be here with you."

Merry blinked back sudden tears. "Looks like a good spot to camp, right over there," he muttered, clearing his throat impatiently and pulling his pony on ahead. His most cherished wish had also proved not impossible, after all, but it would not be words with which he would explain that to Pip.


End file.
